Title: ラブシャッフル
Title (English): Love Shuffle (Rabu Shaffuru)
Format: Renzoku
Genre: Romance, comedy
Episodes: 10
Viewership rating: 8.7 (Kanto)
Broadcast network: TBS
Broadcast period: 2009-Jan-16 to 2009-Mar-20
Air time: Friday 22:00
Theme songs:
Main theme: Fantasy by Earth, Wind & Fire
Insert song: Eternal Flame by The Bangles

Synopsis

Usami Kei is a salaryman who has risen in status due to his engagement with Mei, the wealthy daughter of his company's president. Shortly after she breaks off the engagement, a power failure leaves him stuck in the elevator of his apartment building. Trapped with him are three others living on the same floor - Airu, a trilingual interpreter, Ojiro, a model photographer, and Masato, a psychiatrist. While waiting, their conversation hits upon their love lives and the question of whether there is truly only one fated partner for everyone. As a result, they decide to try "shuffling" their relationships with each other. --Tokyograph


Cast

Tamaki Hiroshi as Usami Kei
Karina as Aizawa Airu
Matsuda Shota as Sera Ojiro
DAIGO as Oishi Yukichi
Yoshitaka Yuriko as Hayakawa Kairi
Kojima Hijiri as Kamijyo Reiko
Kanjiya Shihori as Kagawa Mei
Tanihara Shosuke as Kikuta Masato



****

I am rewatching this drama jewel for the third time and enjoying every minute of it once again. Although it isn't a new drama, I think it deserves a discussion thread.
The cast is simply wonderful, and the idea brilliant. Because I know the plot already, I can concentrate on little details, like the dozens of meta-references scattered in the witty, fast-paced dialogues. At times they are hard for non-Japanese to catch, since they refer to word puns and Japanese shows, but the subbers/translators did a wonderful job in explaining most of those in the subs.

The incredible alchemy between the characters shines literally out of the screen, and I'm laughing out loud at some scenes, no matter how many times I've watched them. There's no doubt in my mind that this is one of the cleverest dramas I've ever watched. As a matter of fact, I went back to my list and changed my previous 9 into a 10 (I don't know why I didn't do it sooner).

Does anyone want to join in the Club of Shuffle Enthusiasts? :D
I love all the characters. They are sometimes silly, yet adult, which makes me love this drama all the more. If that makes sense...lol
I love the Ojiro and Kairi story (and not just because Shota-kin is Ojiro...lol)

Last night, i decided to rewatch it too, lol. I just love the concept behind the storyline and the way it was executed. The cast is amazing. It's really the only drama I rewatch, hehe.
Wow, talk about elective affinities!
Kawai, let me hand you some pop-corns. :D
Lis, that video is my favourite tribute to the couple, I must have watched it dozens of times. The music is awesome too. If you hadn't posted it, I would have. Thanks! :D
New enthusiast here! I feel like I'm just going to be quoting my review with no original thoughts...I'll try not to do that completely. There are things about Love Shuffle which stand out for me enough to put it into a permanant little pocket in my mind labeled special. They might be common reasons for others or even silly but I don't care. First and foremost the theme song; which brings back childhood memories like you wouldn't believe! I love Earth Wind & Fire. When I heard this song start to play I smiled and thought..."Oh, this is cool!" The feel of this show, the fantasy and idea of a partner 'love shuffle' kind of matches the song. I love that whoever created this show was musically savvy enough to pull a song this..."off the beaten path"..from their bag of tricks. Unlike the Bangles song, which was just 'okay' I never got sick of this one.


I also liked the whole premise of the show because if there is another like it out there, I have yet to come across it in Kdramaland or Americaland for that matter. I enjoyed all the different relationship dynamics as the couples switched. I loved Ojiro and spoiler --> how he fell for that strange girl so hard in spite of himself.<-- I even got on board the creepy train after a while because when I first saw it coming I was like...wow this show is going in a weird direction. I took a mental pause and then went...okay, cool! I don't know what it is about this little show. I just liked all of the show's crazy/cool elements.

With one exception: Mei's wishy washy flippy flopping drove me a little nuts...but she redeamed herself for me in the end. All in all...What a fun show! Off to watch Don Quixote now. I'm a new fan of Matsuda Shota!
jeanie65jh wrote: With one exception: Mei's wishy washy flippy flopping drove me a little nuts...but she redeamed herself for me in the end. All in all...What a fun show! Off to watch Don Quixote now. I'm a new fan of Matsuda Shota!


I agree. She was almost a waste of screen time for most of the movie, lol. I cared what everyone else was doing but her. But in the end, I still love the entire show, and she's OK in my mind :)
Oh, Jeanie, you will love Don Quixote too, I'm sure! You'll see another side to Shota-kun and fall for him a little more, like all of us here, lol.
I very much agree with your review and the spoiler comment.

I too was a Ojiro-Kairi shipper all the way through, but I must say Usa (Hiroshi Tamaki) was the real glue of the show. And his obsession with the older woman's breasts cracked me up! Hahahaha: he's so obvious. I guess this is part of that silly yet adult aspect Lis mentioned.
What attracted me the most from the very beginning are the premises of their game: chemistry over love. How many times I've asked myself the same thing: why does love have an expiry date? (most of the times, at least). The drama answer seems to be: because we often confuse the heart and the brain (or the left emisphere with the right, but that's semantic), and end up with people who are not meant for us but for some reason we haven't got the courage to admit it even to ourselves.
Of course the chances to find the other half od the apple is slim among 8 people, but I love it that in the end all the puzzle pieces find their right place.
if we're posting the music from this drama you can't leave out this song.

Yay Panda! A Love Shuffle thread! It always surprises me when I see this under romance/comedy because this is no ordinary rom-com. I was categorizing some of the shows I've seen lately and I put this into the list of shows that are hard to categorize but is freaking brilliant! lol... This show's got it all, romance, comedy, mystery, suspense, psychology. That's what I love about it. It kept me glued to the screen the two days that I marathonned it.
Thanks for those who recommended I watch this drama... I am getting ready to watch episode 5 right now, and I love it.. Everyone is interesting, with the exception of Mei, I find her to be very borish, and wishy washy. I really like the shrink.
I also love this drama, I started to watch because being a Nodame fanatic I looked up everything Tamaki Hiroshi was in, I love how silly and different he is in this. But the cast was overall great, the story something new and refreshing, outcome not so obvious as usual, it's a really great drama. Yay Pan-da! (loved that, and of course ' no pants'-da was great one too :D )
I totally loved it And I loved Ojiro with Kairu it was so cute and heartwarming.
Really interestiung idea too. I really couldn't put it away, it was really addictive.

actually I really liked all characters, they were very solid and well acted out, very believeable and their stories were also believeable.

And I was really happy about the ending.

Yukki reminded me of Don Quxote felt sorry for the doc. I loved Ojiro and Kairu (and her father, aww) and the two remaining characters worked well together too.
Very very good series.